Thank You Headspace

Thank You Headspace

I don’t do any more free gigs. I don’t need the ‘exposure’. In fact, more and more these days, I’m inclined to retract from society and maybe just grow apples to feed horses with. In any case, free or discounted gigs with the promise of selling lots of merchandise is not something I do anymore.

But… Every now and then. Not often, but occasionally, I will at my own cost, travel to another city to speak, perform or facilitate a workshop with no fee requested, if I believe in the cause or the person inviting me. And that is what I will be doing this weekend.

While planning and preparing the Townsville Cultural Festival, I will fly to Brisbane this Friday to offer a workshop in Warwick on Saturday afternoon, and a full-length show in the evening at the Warwick Town Hall. The event is donation based, and all donations are going to Headspace.

I understand that Warwick is a long drive from Brisbane, and I know there are many things to do on a Saturday night in Brisbane. But, I also know that there are people who live in between those two places. And if you happen to find that you are free, this Saturday 1st of July, then do it. Perhaps make a day of it, maybe you’d like to attend the workshop as well or just the performance.

Come. Attend. Be present and show me your face. Say hello, and tell me what moves you. Whatever donations you make at the door will go directly to Headspace, and who knows, maybe hearing what I have to say might actually offer you some relief or solace. A support perhaps, as we come to terms with the end of civilisation as we knew it and this existential angst we deal with. Even if just for a short while, let us smile as if we’re not terrified.

It is so easy to forget that all we really want in this life is to be heard, to be acknowledged and to be of some form of service to others. That’s it really… to feel good and make people around us feel good. Am I right lads?

Anyways, having gone through some heavy shit in my past, having attempted to take my own life, having suffered from debilitating depression and mind shattering anxiety in the years gone by, not only do I have a few things to speak to you about, but also organisations and initiatives like Headspace are important to me.

Self-harm, suicide, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks are all signs that our society is not functioning correctly, we are ill, collectively not individually. We have to acknowledge that we are in a bad state. Some would say we have cancer. If we had been a horse in the Melbourne Cup, we would have been put down. Stop eating animals it’s cruel and unkind. If we were a computer we would erase and reformat the drive. Maybe nature will do that for us. I don’t know.

But in the meantime, we need initiatives like Headspace, and we need to look out for each other, and we need to acknowledge that as fierce and powerful as we may be, just like nature, we are all also very fragile. We should remind ourselves that we are all seeking our own resolutions and trying to befriend or behead our own demons, however you wish to deal with them.

Consider the thought that those people you find so easy to judge, the ones staring at intently at their iPhones on the bus or train home, are just doing their best to not burst into tears in front of others. And maybe when they get to their home and they are alone again, they burst into tears the minute they see their own face in the mirror. Just a thought.

So be kind to one another, be gentle, be patient and if you are willing and able to make it to Warwick this Saturday, then be present.

Erfan

Warwick Town Hall 6 pm Saturday 1st July

For event details please email Bronwyn Clark at bronwyn_millicent_clark@hotmail.com or call or text her on 0421 723 200 to let her know you’re coming.